Craft report

And now for the crafty bits.

In the middle of all the apple picking, apple cooking, apple preserving and apple eating, I screen printed a whole bunch of bunting flags



to decorate our stall at The Lake House produce day last month.



I actually finished the farmer boy socks about two months ago but then apple season exploded and I never got a chance to blog them. The top four things about knitting these socks are;

1. The skein of yarn is split into two 50 gram bits so you know when to stop winding one and start winding the next and then you can't help but knit two identical twin socks.
2. The colours and patterns change so often which made them interesting and fun.
3. Somehow, I have no idea how, the yarn is dyed into those colours and patterns which means you get the cool designs without all the ends to darn in.
4. Farmer Bren LOVES them!!

Ravelled here.



Apart from the giving or wearing, the best part of finishing a pair of socks is adding a new colour into my scrappy sock blanket. It's still not very big, but I'm really loving it.

Raveled here.



And then there's Amanda.

As far as I can work out I have one button band, the neckband and the seaming to do and then I'm done. I still have no idea if it will fit me but it's getting to that stage where I'll soon find out.

I'm knitting Amanda in Tonofwool which I am LOVING!! It had beautiful stitch definition, it is super soft, it's Australian and I have a few samples that I'll be giving away soon - so watch this space.

Ravelled here.



Then there's the weaving kit that farmer Bren and the girls bought me a week before mother's day. I am busting to have a go but trying my hardest to wait til I am wearing my new cardigan.



Which brings us to the sweet Tea Mouse.

Tea Mouse is the cutest softie pattern designed and written by lovely Sarah from Chantille Fleur.

In Sarah's own words - The Chantille Fleur Tea Mouse has darling little ears with fabric lining, a matching love heart on the front and even a little knitted tail. She's a sweet little character with a lovely black nose which she just loves to point in the air. The Tea Mouse is a delight to look at and to create.

Sarah posted me the kit which meant all I had to do was find the right sized needles and get to work. The pattern was easy to follow and came together quite quickly. I had thought it might make a sweet gift for a new baby but it keeps disappearing into Miss Pepper's bedroom. Looks like I'll just have to knit up another one. Or two.

Sarah has very kindly offered to send a Tea Mouse kit to one of you guys, (Australian addresses only, sorry).

Tell me in the comments who you would give your little Tea Mouse to and I'll pick a winner on the weekend.

Until then check out the knitting kits here.
The Tea Mouse Ravelry page here.
Chantille Fleur facebook here.
Chantille Fleur on instagram here.



OK, that's me all craft caught up, how about you?
What're you making at the moment?


Big warm woolly love.

xoxoxoxo

the book quilt

If writing my book was all crocheted up into the squares of the book blanket, then these few weeks before the release time is definitely stitched into the book quilt.

Each email received and sent, each room tidied and cobweb brushed away, each photo taken, each interview question answered, each time and date diarised, each little piece of nervousness and over-emotion, each big piece of excitment buliding, each ohmygoodness ohmygoodness I wrote a book!

Each time I cut out a bunting flag to advertise the book, I also cut out a tiny 9mm by 9mm square of the same fabric.

As I sewed and pressed the flags, I sewed the little squares into long strips.

And as I stamped the bunting, I took breaks and sewed the strips into a quilt.

There was never any plan beyond the current stage. There still isn't.

Sometime over the next little while when I am meant to be doing something else, hopefully I'll sort through my stuff and find an old blanket. Then I'll pin the little sqaures to the blanket and to a bigger piece of fabric. And then sometime after that I'll stitch it all together. Together.

It's not all that big so I don't know what will become of it or where it will go.

But I do know that this time just before the release has surprised me with its mixture of jumbled up emotions. It feels big and sometimes overwhelming to see my name printed in red on the cover and the photos that I took and words that I wrote inside. It feels like an acomplishment and through the nerves I am also really proud.

I also feel really lucky to be a crafter. For the therapy of the cut and the stitch and for this quilt that holds the stories of this time. It's such a blessing really.

Happy weekend my friends.
I do hope yours is wonderful.

xx

all over the place

I feel like I'm a bit all over the place at the moment.

It's school holidays and my girlies have been chatting to me all day long. And singing to me and telling me to look at them and asking me what's for dinner. In between, I'm doing bits of publicity for my book and trying to sound like I make sense and have a clean house and clean kidlets. I'm also cold, always. I'm trying to organise a cute little event or two. I'm returning emails. I'm designing a poster to sell more of our chookies.

And I'm crafting. A little. In between the other stuff and sometimes, sneakily, at the same time.

I'm knitting a beanie for my Mum.

A few weeks ago I was having a really crappy day. I think it was this day. In the middle of it all my sister Meg called. We talked and I cried. Then later on we texted back and forth and I cried. And then finally she sent me this text message;

What you are going through on all fronts sounds huge. But a bad day is just a bad day. And a bad decision is just a bad decision. And a bad mood is just a bad mood. Being alive is about having a full human experience. The great and the crapola. So go easy on yourself. And really, you should be focusing on a genuine catastrophe: Mum's purple beanie. xx

She was right of course. So I am.

Actually while I think of it, Meg and her family are going away for a year and renting out their house. Have you always dreamed of living in Daylesford for a year? How cool would that be?! Check out the details and photos here.

I've also been knitting this teeny, tiny onesie for baby Lola. Well actually I've just finished the knitting part and now I have to block it and sew on the buttons.

It's crazy cute and little and although I have really come to terms with the no more baby thing, it did make me wobble.

I've been cutting and stitching and turning the right way out and pressing and stitching bunting. Lots of bunting. To be hung in windows of book shops selling my book.

My book. Eeeeeeep!! Some advanced copies arrived this morning. I'll show you some sneak peeks in the next few days. You can pre-oreder it now you know. Just click on this link and it will take you there.

#Ohmygoodnessme.

And I've been baking a bit. The wood oven is on 24/7 so I may as well. The old faves are working well but I really should get a bit more adventurous. I think I should make olive bread. I think I will. Tomorrow.

I think right now though, the best thing to do would be to go and have a hot bath and listen to a podcast. Yep, I think I will.

What a rambley old post. I think it pretty much sums up the way I'm feeling though.

How are you feeling?
What are you making?
Are you cold or hot?
Do you like listening to pod casts in the bath? Any recommendations?

Bye xx

every day in may - or not

This is the bunting I made and the stamp I cut to stamp the bunting I made.

When my book comes out in August, hopefully some book shops will hang this stamped bunting in their windows as a display.

My book!! Oh my gosh! Did you see I put a little pic of the cover over there on my side bar. Eeeeeep!!

This is the wool I was lucky enough to win in Little Woollie Jules's giveaway to celebrate the opening of her online store. Thanks Jules!! 

Delicious and soft and squishy and waiting patiently for the perfect project. Six 50gm balls, any suggestions?

This is the show-off autumn kissed grapevine on the front side of our house. The back-side (ha!) grapevine gets less sun and is yellow. 

This is about 30 or 40 rows of this brilliant idea I had that is never going to happen. Such a shame. A wide, loooooooong, grey scarf would be so useful and snuggly and cute. But realistically, 120 stitch rows of plain knit and plain purl are not so much fun. Unravel.

This is the state of our cubby so far. 

There'll be more tomorrow. @thebuilderrecycles (on instagram) is coming at 8am.

This was my attempt at a wintery colour palette blanket.

It hurts my eyes. Unravel.

These are the potatoes we picked last Friday.

This is the beanie I'm knitting for Pepper. I-cords and pom poms to go.

These are some of my kitchen garden tomatoes. With ten crates of green tomatoes in the loungeroom and a frost warning overnight, I had to say goodbye to these. I guess the chooks will love them.


It's funny, all week long I've been obsessively considering my every day in May project.

I've thought about walking every day, crocheting a square a day, knitting a square a day, making a pom pom a day, cooking a new recipe a day, reading a chapter a day, writing a blog post a day, naming something I am grateful for each day, doing something different with apples every day, taking a bag to the op-shop a day or doing some sort of photo challenge each day.

But late this afternoon, waaaaaay into the first day of May, I admitted defeat. For some reason I am just too crazy busy this May. Between the book stuff and the preserving stuff and the home stuff and the mothering stuff, there is just no room to take on another project. I have no idea how it is possible that with three at school this year I am still busier than last year, but I am. Either that or just more realistic.

I adored last year's motif a day in May and the May two years before that. I loved choosing the pattern, finding the cotton, hooking each square and watching the pile of finished motifs grow.

Hopefully I'll be back on board next year.

Hopefully I'll stick to this decision and not freak out and rush off to make a square as soon as I've pressed publish on this post. Hopefully.

So what are you up to over there?
Are you busier this year than last?
Are you making every day in May?
Or are you too tired by the end of the day?
Oh and if I disable anonymous comments is that going to worry you?

Bye!

My 'what makes me happy' to-do list.

Hello day before summer and very last day of November!!

What a crazy time of year you are.

I don't know about you, but I'm finding my days are disappearing in a sea of pick ups and drop offs, final this and preparing for that, make lots of this and rehearse for that. There's costumes and projects, and food shares and transitions and meetings and excursions and parties and inspections and reports and dead-lines and concerts and dances and assemblies...and there are three, tired, fragile children.

Yesterday I drove in and out of town nine times!!!!

And so being the disorganised person that I am, I've often found myself feeling like I am drowning. Overwhelmed and out of control. And that all the stuff I love doing, the stuff that makes me-me, gets stuck right down the bottom of the list.

So this morning, when I stepped back into my house after the first drop off of the day, and I contemplated the mess that needed sorting out and the list of housey chores that needed attending to, I decided to make myself a what makes me happy to-do list.

On that list I wrote things that I love doing, but that aren't exactly priorities. My happy stuff. The stuff that makes me feel passionate and inspires me.

I'm hoping that having this list will keep me more focused and motivated and on task. If I hang and fold all the laundry, then maybe I can do something for a little while that I love, like crochet a coaster or plant out some of the basil.

Like make a new type of bread or sew a dress.

Like thin out the lettuces or sew some bunting.

Like soaking and blocking my just cast off cardigan.

Like taking photos and writing a blog...

And you know what? It might seem small but for now I feel like writing that list has made all the difference to my day. I feel like the shoulds will be more doable if there are some loves in amongst them.

Oh after a bit of contemplation, I just deleted all the games off my phone too. I reckon I could have crocheted an entire blanket in the time I've been wasting lately.

OK here I go, off to tackle the kitchen with my rewards well in sight.

I hope you have the most fabulous weekend.

But before you go, I'd love to know a few of the things that would make it onto your what makes me happy to-do list.

Bye! xx

Creatively speaking...

I am carrying this basket of yarny rainbows where ever I go.

I am hooking grannies.

I am trying to be good and sew in the ends as I go.
But not always succeeding.

I am playing with our farmers' market stall. 

Think mixy-matchy table-cloths and rushed single layer unhemmed bunting.

I am playing around with my second quilt.
A mini, yellow, quarter version of Kate's pattern.
I think it might become a cushion cover.

We are shopping for paint to paint the whole house white.
Except the girls' bed rooms which they want blue.
I still would love a yellow kitchen but the farmer boy wont budge.

I am celebrating op shop treasures by draping them over everything that stands still for long enough.

One dollar for these two rolls of old lace! Can you believe!

And I am trying to style a few lovely corners of my home to make me feel better about the vast majority which looks like a bomb has gone off in it. Ahhhh school holidays. Love em.

What about you?
What have you been up to creatively?

Bye! x

top ten...

My top ten reasons that go to prove that I am losing it.

1) This morning I sat in my car outside the post office and sobbed. Who does that?? I had just opened a package from Jennie with her Kate dolly complete with vintage sheet bunting and she was so perfectly me it was overwhelming. Thank you so, so much Jennie, I love her.

2) Deciding that if it came down to space, I would leave behind my favourite boots if it meant I could bring Kate dolly along on the caravan adventure.

3) Spending hours crocheting trims to tie back the curtains in the caravan. Yes, I know a few meters of ribbon would do the same job, but crochet lacy trim is so much prettier. Oh my goodness, I just saw the mistake...eeeek, does it make me even crazier if I undo it and start again?

4) Being asked by a daughter why farmer Bren and I have to make and do everything for ourselves and why we don't pay other people to do things like lay the floor or make the curtains. Until then it had never occurred to me.

5) Turning up to a birthday party at the finish time rather than the start time.

6) Getting a phone call from the girls' school telling me I was three quarters of an hour

late to pick up the girls from school on the last day of term. How was I to know they finished

an hour early?

7) Finding myself speaking to inanimate objects aloud. Thank you ruffling foot for saving me so much time today. I know you are so tired and need a service Ms Nina Bernina but it wont be long now and you are doing the most wonderful job. Please, please Mr Bobbin, just last one more seam and I'll love you forever...

8) Being waaay more worried about running out of cream coloured sewing cotton than toilet paper.

9) Finding myself sewing cozies for the computers out of our childhood sleeping bags.

10) Spending hours sewing gifted hexagons (thanks Mel!) onto the back of blankets to line the curtains. I know this one must be mad because my farmer boy keeps telling me so.

So there you have it, one crazy crafter. Let's just hope I can last another week until lift off...

See ya. x